


Glowing like Stars

by snowmissus (soul_of_blaze)



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Gen, Mermaids, fem!Kili, i will never stop writing about mermaids apparently
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 12:28:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7268263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soul_of_blaze/pseuds/snowmissus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tauriel thought of the stars, of her mother, and shook her head.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>She looked away from him, out to the sunset dancing along the horizon of the sea.</p>
<p>The sea…"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glowing like Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ErinacchiLove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinacchiLove/gifts).



> while i've been working on fem!bagginshield mermaid au, i was also thinking about how tauriel and kili would meet in this au... so this is it! also dedicated to erina because well, fem!kiliel <3

Tauriel had grown up with a love of the world’s hard to reach bits. When she was young, she’d had star in her eyes. They seemed impossibly far away, never in her reach. Her mother had been the one to introduce her to the art of studying them.

She hadn’t felt exactly the same about them when she had to move to the Greenwood. Not that she didn’t like cousin Legolas, and uncle Thranduil wasn’t as bad as he seemed! The stars shone just as brightly as they did back home. Their light felt strange or maybe just different, without her mother there. Legolas said he thought they were exactly the same as before, as anywhere else.

It was a hot summer when she arrived in the Greenwood. Tauriel had been before, when she was little and her mouth could take her. The place hadn’t changed much at all. The sea lapped at the edge of town, sparkling in the hot sun.

Legolas ran out to greet her, followed by Thranduil with a tight smile. No one said anything but greeting and “how-you-do”s. She ignored the tight feeling in her chest as she and Legolas carried her luggage up to her room.

This was her home now.

The stars felt lonely.

She found herself accompanied by Legolas that summer. For once, Thranduil had smiled and told Legolas to spend the summer off work. Come autumn, she would be alone again. At least right now she and her closest friend at her side.

They walked along the beach, the night after she’d arrived. Before everything, she’d last talked to Legolas about studying astronomy at Rivendell. It all seemed so far away now.

“What are you going to now?” Legolas asked, his face turned downwards as he frowned.

“I don’t know. I told you--”

“The stars don’t’ feel the same, I know,” sighed Legolas, “Ada will want you to do something, though.”

“Can’t he settle for something around here?”

“No. You know he won’t. We can go to Rivendell together but you should study something you like!”

She looked up toward the night sky. Out here, the stars were even brighter. Her eyes fell down but before reaching Legolas, she caught sight of the town that overlooked both the Greenwood and the sea.

“I’ve never actually seen anyone live there.”

“hm?” Legolas followed her line of vision. “Oh. They… travel away during the summer. You’ll see them, come autumn.”

The topic dropped after that, lost in the conversation. Still, days later Tauriel found herself wandering by the cliff and its cozy town. Legolas told her it was rude to step foot in while the Ereboreans (so they were called) were gone. She wondered why they were separated from the Greenwood in such a way. There was a pathway between the two, but no buildings along the way.

It felt like a very clear split.

Tauriel found that her curiosity had been piqued about them. It was not unheard of to travel elsewhere during particular seasons but it made very little sense to go somewhere else for the warm summer.

 

Summer passed quicker than she thought. One look at the calendar told her that there were only a few weeks left. Legolas hadn’t declared what he was studying in Rivendell but he encouraged Tauriel to pick something herself.

“Elrond is renowned not only for healing, you know. They say he’s quite the expert in astronomy as well.”

Tauriel thought of the stars, of her mother, and shook her head.

“You have to decide something!” Legolas pouted at her.

She looked away from him, out to the sunset dancing along the horizon of the sea.

The sea…

“I want to study sea life.”

Legolas gave her a strange look. He said no more on it, though. Tauriel didn’t know why but she felt as though it would lead her where she wanted.

She wanted to know more about the Ereboreans.

Once she had made the decision, it seemed as though the remaining summer weeks swept by. Before too long, they were on their way to a cooler season.

“Rivendell is nice during this time of year,” said Legolas excitedly.

They were at the breakfast table. Thranduil had only just joined them, their discussion focused on their upcoming studies. Tauriel opened her mouth, about to reply, but Thranduil interrupted sharply.

“Don’t stay out tonight. I want you both back inside before sunset.”

Legolas studied the table, avoiding his father.

“Why?”

Tauriel frowned. It was one of their last nights before they left for Rivendell.

“Tauriel. You must do as I say. Enjoy your day. I will see you at dinner.”

“That was odd,” she said finally, once he had left.

“You should listen to him,” Legolas said before leaving as well.

It’s not as if she did it on purpose. The worse were ringing in her ears. She could see the sun beginning its descent.

It was if the sun touching the horizon, where the sea met the sky, caused a sudden explosion.

A literal explosion of water, at least, as something slammed onto the beach. It shook the ground, forcing Tauriel to stumble in order to keep her balance. She realized quickly that no one else was around.

She’d managed to keep her balance but as she looked towards the thing that had landed, she fell. It was... she could not describe it. It looked like something that had crawled from the depths of the ocean. Tauriel realized it very well could have. The creature was huge, writhing on the sand, and there were definitely more than two legs on it.

She feared that if it could even survive on land, it would soon notice her. But she couldn’t move a muscle.

As suddenly as the creature had exploded from the water, people came out of the water. They trudged out and ran at it but their movements agitated the creature. It began moving away. Unfortunately, away was towards her.

Tauriel managed to break out of her froze state. She pushed herself up off the ground, though her legs shook. The small movement attracted the attention of the creature right onto her. It began moving towards her directly. She might have shrieked but she couldn’t find it in herself to actually do anything else.

Was this how she was going to die? Here, on this beach, while strange half-naked people ran at the creature? She would be—

“Hey! Catch this!”

Out of the air, a spear rushed towards her. She panicked for a slight second before practically pinching it from the air. The spear felt strangely comfortable in her hands. And the creature still hurtled quickly towards her…

“Aim for the soft spot! Between its eyes!”

The voice definitely helped.

Before she could do much more thinking, Tauriel had thrown the spear. It hurtled through the air and sailed right in between the creature’s eyes. A second passed before it fell, blood leaking steadily out from around the spear. A cheer rose up from the people.

Tauriel breathed out, then avoided looking at anyone as they were all either half-naked or fully naked. From the corner of her eyes, it seemed as though they were now all staring at the creature. Probably trying to figure out what to do with it. It took up a good portion of the beach.

The sound of wet feet against wet sand dragged her attention to one of the people. She peeked. The girl headed toward her was not even semi-naked. However, she only wore a bikini top and a pair of shorts.

“That was amazing!” She gushed as she came into hearing range. “I’ve never seen anyone throw like that, well, my aunt it pretty impressive with a spear.”

“I’ve never…” Tauriel mimed throwing the spear.

“Wow! You’re a natural,” the girl said.

Tauriel took a moment to look her over more clearly. Her skin was far darker than many of the people in the Greenwood, though it seemed as though all the people who had come onto the beach were similarly dark. Her hair was black and, though sticking wetly to her skin, separated into two braids. A smattering of freckles decorated her nose and cheeks.

It was strange, she thought, for the girl almost seemed to be glowing. The glow was soft, faint, but there.

Her first thought was of stars.

Then she realized the girl hadn’t stopped talking. She was gesturing excitedly, behind her as another woman came towards them. This woman had a shockingly similarity to the girl, including the glow as she came closer. She too had a pair of shorts on, her arms crossing over her chest as she looked down at Tauriel.

“Ah! Did you see her throw, namadaz’amad? It was magnificient.”

“Kili,” the woman said sharply, her eyes trained on Tauriel, “go help your brother.”

Kili lingered, smiling shyly at Tauriel, until the woman snapped at her to go again. She rolled her eyes before jogging back towards the others. One last glance over her shoulder before disappeared into the mass of people gathering now. There were definitely more people than she had seen come out to the fight the creature.

The woman frowned at her.

“I don’t know you.”

“No?” Tauriel smiled in bemusement.

“No one is to be out tonight. Get back to your home.”

As Tauriel sped back to the house, she wondered at the tone of the woman. She’d sounded angry, but there had almost been a tone of worry in there as well. Perhaps she had misheard though, as the woman hadn’t looked worried at her. She’d only seemed angered.

 

There were a couple of things Tauriel knew now. The most important one was this: the people that had come out of the ocean were the Ereboreans. She hadn’t connected why they had come out of the sea, but it seemed this was where they went during the summer.

Up on the cliff, she could see the life now in the town. There were even a few Ereboreans she saw intermingled in the Greenwood. They didn’t stay long, but she’d see them at the market or somewhere else around town. Whatever had been on the beach that night disappeared before the sun rose the next morning. No trace whatsoever.

She hadn’t seen Kili since then either. Or the woman that had told her to go back home.

With a sigh, Tauriel hefted her bag over her shoulder. Legolas was currently loading up the car for the short trip to Rivendell. The trip wasn’t too bad, but a long ways on one road. At least Thranduil had commandeered an apartment for their stay.

She startled as what felt like a rock hit the back of her heel. Behind her, she didn’t see anyone but there were no rocks around that she could have accidentally kicked onto her own feet. The next rock hit her ankle as she barely turned her head back towards the car.

Tauriel frowned and strode over towards a bush. It was a good hiding spot, if you weren’t actively looking for someone.

Kili smiled shyly up at her from in between leaves.

“Hi!”

“What are you doing?”

“Where are you going?” Kili stood up, then grabbed Tauriel’s wrist and pulling her behind a nearby tree.

“Rivendell.”

“Oh…” Kili frowned slightly. “Are you coming back?”

“Yes,” she said after a beat, a confused smile on her lips. Kili glanced over Tauriel’s shoulder. Legolas had his head in the trunk, most likely double-checking that they had everything.

She needed to leave but Kili hadn’t let go of her wrist. Tauriel didn’t necessarily want her to either. Which was strange.

“I have to go,” Tauriel said after a moment of silence.

Kili let go of her wrist, looking only the littlest bit apologetic. She glanced past Tauriel again, watching Legolas for a moment before turning back to Tauriel. They stared at each other for a moment before she pulled a phone out of her pocket.

“Do you have a phone?”

“Yes..?”

“Cool! What’s your number?” Kili paused, then glanced down. “You don’t have to give it to me, of course, I mean… but I wanted to talk to you and now you’re leaving.”

“Hang on,” Tauriel smiled, taking Kili’s phone and typing in her number, “I’d love to talk with you more. I’m Tauriel, by the way.”

“Kili,” she replied, a light blush dusting across her cheeks as their fingers brushed together.


End file.
